Puzzle
by eliphya
Summary: AU. Naruto and Hinata have been working across from each other for quite some time but haven't even talked once. [NaruHina l Two-Shot]
1. Part 1 (Naruto's POV)

The bus was as full as always and Naruto's head bobbed back and forth in the rhythm of the bumpy roads. The rays of the sun had heated the inside of the vehicle to a temperature, where Naruto tried his best to not get in direct contact with anyone else, since his own sweat was uncomfortable enough to bear. It was unusually quiet for a public transport, as it seemed like the summer weather sucked out peoples' energy.

Four times a week he had to take the bus downtown, where he currently worked part-time at a ramen shop to payoff his tuition fees. His general love for the soupy delicacy had led him to this job, which he was, without any complains, all round happy with. No work appeared to be better than the place where he would be surrounded by the scent of his favorite dish all the time.

A few weeks ago though, Naruto had found another delight for his workdays, which was the person he couldn't help but constantly glance at right now.  
She had long dark hair and under her bangs a pair of oddly fair eyes, which were busy with their observation of outside. Somehow she had been able to keep the pale color of her skin despite the gleaming sun when in contrary Naruto's had become remarkably tanned over the course of the summer.

It was strange how often he had seen her but how scarce the amount of information was, he had gathered about her.  
He knew that she was at the same university as him, because he had seen her in the dining hall twice but he had failed to find out which major she studied. He also knew that she worked at a _dango_ shop, as it was across from the place he worked at.  
They would silently greet each other with a light bow of their heads and a mute smile at any time their eyes locked, without ever uttering a word.

Over the time Naruto had become eager to find out more about her. He wouldn't call it attraction yet, the feeling he had towards her, but rather curiosity. From the way she treated her customers she seemed like a kind and likable person and trying to hide the fact that he thought that she was very pretty would be in vain.  
He wanted to learn her name at least but the longer he delayed it, the weirder it felt to ask her. Thus he was caged in a circle of interest but with the lack of action to break out of it. Even though he was usually a very energetic kind of guy.

When he noted that he had sunken into a stare, he averted his head, persuading himself to concentrate on something else than the girl's absent gaze and the way she played with her fingers on her lap.

A good portion of people got off the bus and Naruto moved closer to her seat and turned around, since he thought that the advantage of distance would lure him into another stare.  
Naruto sighed; he was sure that if anyone could witness his state he would easily get labeled as miserable.

Once he centered his attention on the road again he noticed that it wouldn't take much longer until they arrived at the city center - what was relieving. The sooner he could leave the unbearable stuffiness of this hell hole the better.

But when the bus drove into a sudden sharp curve all occupants shifted sideways. Naruto was taken aback and tried to find his balance, reflexively stepping aside, his hands searching for something to grab to help himself.  
He couldn't manage to get a hold on one of the poles and fell.

His head hit the window with a thud, causing a burst of pain. One of his hands had desperately grabbed the seat next to him.  
Naruto's limps tensed up when he realized that he had landed straight on the girl's lap with his bottom. He dared to make eye contact with her, but regretted his decision right after doing so.

Her eyes were widened to an extent that made him wonder if it should be possible for them to attain the size they did. Her mouth was agape and she had rose both her arms into the air while her hands formed frail fists. She had backed away with her upper body as much as the seat allowed her to; surely it wouldn't be enough.

As Naruto's brain processed the events in a felt sluggish speed, he gradually discovered traits of her face which he never had the chance of viewing before. Her lashes were long and her lips round. Her milky skin was bathed in sunshine and appeared to glow in the light.  
The rosy color, dusted on her cheeks, seemingly darkened every passing moment.

His facial expression changed into a shocked one after he fully grasped the situation he was in.  
He stood up hastily, shortly struggling at the beginning.

"I'm so sorry." Naruto lifted his hands in an apologizing manner. He sensed the giggling of the passengers around but couldn't really mind them as the girl in front of him had all his attention.

He tried to reduce the flush on his face but the red of his ears were enough evidence of his embarrassment.

"I-it's okay." Her soft voice was barely hearable in the mess of the situation and his inability to think straight.

"It was an accident, believe me," he pleaded unnecessarily, gesturing with his hands on the side.

"I understand." She seemed like she tried to recover her composure but failed to get rid of her sheepish look and the nervous compression of her lips.

This was definitely not the way he wanted their first conversation to be like.

* * *

A loud groan escaped Naruto's throat, that earned him a judging glance from his boss Teuchi, who was busy mixing a steaming broth behind the boys back.  
The shop owner had known Naruto for too long to be surprised by his antics but still never missed a beat to question his behavior.

"What's wrong?" His deep voice echoed in the void of the shop, as there was not a single customer to serve. The silence only accompanied by the noise of the fan's spinning petals, hanging from the ceiling.  
Although Naruto sweated all over the body, he had gotten used to the heat. The fanning was ineffectual anyway because of the hot dishes, which were cooked in this sparse place.

"Nothing, I'm just bored," Naruto muttered, which was half the truth. He had planned to distract himself with work but had forgotten that the majority of people disliked consuming hot soup while the sun blazed down with all its might. Once the air got fresher in the evening the shop would be more lively but until then he had nothing else to do than wipe the counter for the dozenth time.

Naruto interrupted his line of thought when the girl from the bus this afternoon stepped out of the _dango_ shop on the other side of the street to serve two customers some beverages.  
He had free view on the welcoming smile she gave them since the two shops were quite close to each other and the street between them was anything but busy.

He straightened his rear and watched her moving back towards the store but not without accidentally meeting Naruto's eyes.  
He sensed an odd tingling sensation in his stomach mixed with the overall urge to quickly look away but somehow he couldn't. Despite the distance he noticed the widening of her eyes before she turned around, her ponytail swinging greatly when she did so, and hasted inside again.

Her vanishing so suddenly was a staggering blow and Naruto's head made acquaintance with the surface of the counter. Its wetness felt cooling against his skin and once more, after drawing in a deep breath, he grunted loudly.

He wasn't that surprised by her behavior, as he thought that it would have been much weirder if she had smiled and bowed her head like she usually did when she saw him.  
Still he was disappointed in the way things had turned out; his optimistic nature had already bid goodbye.

"Naruto." Teuchi patted the boy's shoulder. "How about you stop your moaning and do me a favor."  
But Naruto refused to raise and instead just turned his head towards the man, his cheek remained pressed against the counter. The distorted mien he made wouldn't drive the shop owner away.

"Take this and bring it to Anko, would you?" The man handed him a tray with two bowls of ramen, finally leading Naruto to lift his head. "She often forgets to eat something else beside sweets and her employee is probably hungry too." Naruto nodded understandingly as he remembered that the only thing he had ever seen that woman eat was the _dangos_ from her shop.

"Wait, you want me to go over to her shop?" It seemed like his mind was still a mess since it took him some time to comprehend what going over would mean from him. Naruto shook his head excessively. "No old man, I can't go over." He then looked away, as if that would be enough for the man to withdraw his request.

"And why can't you?"Teuchi narrowed his brows.

 _Because it would be embarrassing,_ Naruto thought. He would have to face the victim of his clumsiness and from the way she had turned away earlier he was ensured in the assumption that she would like the idea of stalling their next encounter as far into the future as possible.

"Wouldn't it be better if you went over yourself. It would also be a good workout for you." Naruto stroked Teuchi's stomach playfully. "You're getting a little chubby there."

"Naruto, I may have known you since you were little but I'm still your boss and I can fire you whenever I want." He thrusted the tray into Naruto's hands. "Now go."

Hesitantly he walked towards his destination but he stopped when he had already reached the few little tables and chairs, that were positioned outside the _dango_ shop. Right now there was no big difference in the amount of customers compared to the ramen bar and Naruto blocked out the two that eyed him.

This is not how his character should be. Where did this cowardly behavior come from? How was it possible for a girl, who wasn't much more than a stranger, to crush his self-confidence like this.

But when certain girl appeared in front of him again his head emptied immediately, proving him that she hadn't lost the effect she had on him.  
She looked surprised and confused about his appearance yet didn't utter a word.

"I-… He-…," Naruto stammered before he rose the tray with the soup as if he wanted to show her evidence that there was a good reason for him to be there. "I was told to bring this over for you and your boss to eat."

"Oh." She took the plastic tray and glanced at the ramen, the trace of a frown on her face. "Thank you."

Naruto just realized that this was the first time he had heard her voice. The time in the bus didn't count, since he hadn't been able to pay enough attention to it.  
Her voice was calm and gentle, it suited the image he had of her. He wanted to complete the puzzle of her. So many questions already gathered in his throat, making him incapable to decide what to say first.

"Is there something else you want to say?" she asked, while she presented him a curious look.

 _Say something. Anything._

"No. Sorry. Nothing." He turned around. "See ya."

* * *

Naruto was much pretty sure that the best word he could describe himself with was "failure". He hadn't even been able to ask her for her name. The task sounded so simple but he didn't manage to pull it off.  
Where did his big mouth go? His ability to talk and talk without anyone able to stop him. The trait that made it possible for him to ask things that might be embarrassing for other people.

A simple crush made him like this, even unable to stop thinking about his misery on the next day to work. Loudly sighing he stood at the bus station, with dull eyes and slacking shoulders.  
Like on every other day he would probably meet her in the bus again, only did he want to prevent that with getting in casually and finding a seat placed so, that he wouldn't have to look at her.

Maybe he should just go up to her and try to say something again. He would probably say something very stupid, that was how his mouth worked when he was nervous. He was no master of talking to girls and at this point he was aware that he never would be. That dream was too far away to be fetched.  
He resounded with another sigh evoked by his indecisiveness while the bus already approached from afar.

Some more people gathered around Naruto at the border stone.  
It wasn't as hot as yesterday, as a soft wind occasionally passed and a few clouds had formed on the sky to cover the sun from time to time. Still he felt uncomfortable with the sweaty arms that rubbed against him, when the people piled up around him to get a good seat.

The bus stopped and Naruto stepped in. He immediately found her after barely having passed the driver.  
She sat in one of the seats in the middle of the bus. Even while just looking out of the window she looked gorgeous. Her hair was put in a ponytail, exposing her slender neck.  
He stopped for a moment but the passengers behind him pushed him further as if they wanted to trigger the confrontation a little faster.

The girl looked up right at that time. Their eyes met and exchanged gazes that felt longer than just the instant they were but it made his heart pound a little harder.  
He turned around and wanted to sit down at the seat to his side but a voice called him and he froze. "Naruto."

He had heard that voice just once but he knew that it was _hers_. He knew it but was still surprised at its resounding.  
Naruto looked at her and she looked back at him. She had placed her hand on the seat next to her and patted it a little to draw his attention to her gesture.

"You can sit here," she said in her sweet voice. And no matter how nervous Naruto had been before he didn't waver in walking up to her. Because it felt like she approved of him being there. The fact that she didn't avert her eyes until he sat down and her gaze lingered seemingly making sure that he stayed in that seat made him feel better and achieved in making his lips bend.

"Thank you," he answered, relived that his voice didn't crack or did other possible stunts.

The bus took off and for a while Naruto was too afraid to move as his shoulder brushed hers and he could feel her skin. It was different than with the other passengers before, whose hot sweat he had tried to avoid.  
He liked her arm touching his, no matter how warm it was, he didn't want to pull away.

From the corner of his eye he could see how she fidgeted with the strap of her bag when a sudden thought struck him, making him forget his nervousness for a moment and blurt out the question as bigmouthed as he normally was.  
"Wait, how do you know my name?"

He boldly looked at her but she didn't turn her head straightaway even though he was certain that she had heard him as she stopped to fiddle her bag.

"Uh?" She finally looked at him and their arms didn't touch anymore. It was weird that her face being so close to his didn't feel odd. He was too curious about her answer. "I… I just do."

More than her reply it was the pink color of embarrassment that made him smile. His eyes roamed over her face, dwelling on each her features he could capture.

She stayed silent for a bit, in which both their bodies shifted to the movements of the bus and the noises of their surroundings felt a little more vivid.  
The sun behind her was blending him but he didn't want to look away because it felt like he would miss something gravely if he averted his eyes for even just a second

"What's _your_ name?" Strangely that question fell so lightly off his lips.

She smiled. "Hinata."

 _Hinata._ He let that name melt on his tongue.  
Naruto had found another piece of the puzzle he was eager to complete.

* * *

(There'll be a part two with Hinata's point of view.)


	2. Part 2 (Hinata's POV)

How long had she been staring at this sign already? _Ichiraku's._ She had read it over and over again, as if the letters would change with her next reading. The red writing had branded themselves into her inner eye.

With the tip of her shoe she run over the rawness of the asphalt, mentally going through each step of her plan again.

Today was the day she would talk to _him_. However she had set the bar very low as she knew very well how poorly she performed in nerve-wrecking circumstances.  
She had watched the boy so often on the bus and at university, always trying to catch a glimpse when he wasn't looking or busy with doing something else. She mostly captured the back of his head or his profile, but that image was enough to make her heart race.

Several times she had caught him observing her too but that was likely caused because he had noticed her staring on numerous occasions.  
And suddenly the notion that he might think of her as a very weird person crossed her mind.  
Would it really be okay to walk in on him at his workplace? It was not like the little nods they gave each other when their eyes locked ensured her somehow that he wanted to see her. So she asked herself, if he didn't, wouldn't she be harassing him then.

The street lantern next to the ramen bar lighted up and in some way it cleared away her doubts. Under the warm white of the light she shook her head.  
She may didn't know his name but had made finding that out her goal for this evening and there was no way she would tolerate backing away now.  
Everything went according to plan, as she had finished work punctually and walked over, in the knowledge that his shift ended later than hers.

She nodded and passerby side eyed the strange girl standing in front of a restaurant for several minutes and seemingly fighting with her inner self, occasionally making unnatural gestures.

With one hand over her beating heart, she got over the remaining distance and stepped into the restaurant.  
The humidity in the air instantly rose. Steam soared up from the open kitchen, where the chef skillfully worked on his dishes.  
It seemed like every chair was taken, even the last seat at the end of the bar right in front of the chef. The conversations were loud, mixed with sets of laughter from all sides.  
Hinata just noticed that she had looked over from her side of the street so often but had never visited this place. The place felt familiar but also unknown.

The hands around the strap of her shoulder bag tightened their grip a little as she roamed her eyes around the interior of the restaurant. She noticed that the room was just as small as the _dango_ shop she worked at.  
Several tilted frames with certificates and pictures covered the walls but she didn't want to spent too much time inspecting them.

Instead she was looking out for the boy she was so eager and at the same time indescribably nervous to see. Yet the only staff she could detect was a brown haired waitress, who was busy with taking orders at a group table outside, while smiling widely and joking with one of the guests.

Hinata stepped further inside, walking towards the bar. Vigorously she looked around, tiptoeing in fear she might oversee him.

"Are you looking for someone, young lady?" The sudden deep voice behind her surprised her so much that she had winced before she turned around.  
The chef of the restaurant, who her boss Anko had called Teuchi once, smiled at her under his hooded eyes. Sweat ran down from under his hat and wetted his hair around his temple.

"Good evening, I'm looking for one of your employees." When he glanced at the woman outside, she added, "A boy, with blond hair."

"Ah. He finished his shift earlier today. I'm sorry, you missed him."

Her shoulders slacked. It was like the world was joking with her. Here she was, finally gathering her long lost courage and it was all in vain.

"Is that so." She couldn't suppress the sigh that cut its way through her throat.

"Can I relay a message, he'll be here tomorrow again." Teuchi stepped closer to her, the bar still separating them. The noises disturbed their conversation and Hinata's voice was too little in the see of laughter and exclamations.

"No it's okay. I'll just come back tomorrow." Hinata tried to prevent her disappointment from displaying on her face.

She bowed her head politely and was in the midst of turning around to leave again, when she halted and called for the chef. "Excuse me."

He hadn't turned away yet and rose his brows at her pacing towards him.

"May I ask you what his name is?" She knew how odd that might sounded but right now she didn't really have any borders on how to act or concern on what people thought of her strange behavior.

His smile was different from the friendly one he had given her earlier but she couldn't really match it.

"It's Naruto." He had answered in a manner that made it seem like he couldn't wait to let her hear it.

"Naruto," she mumbled, chuckling when she realized how good that name fitted into his workplace and how well it sounded in her ears. She liked that name.

Hinata thanked the man with a joyous smile. She hadn't talked to her crush this evening but at least she had achieved her goal.  
She knew his name now. It was Naruto.

* * *

Naruto had looked towards her direction nearly the whole time they were on the bus. She hadn't figured out what exactly he was looking at or if he was just dozing off. Too afraid she had been to raise her head and eventually locking her eyes with his, probably causing an uncomfortable moment for both of them.  
So Hinata stubbornly directed her eyes of the window, not taking note on her habit of fidgeting with her fingers.

The hotness and the struggle to not snatch a glance of the boy, who she now knew how to call, made her chest feel heavy. She couldn't concentrate on anything else, not the passing cars or the view of the city on a summer afternoon.

Luckily when the bus stopped and several people got off, Naruto turned his back towards her. She was relieved that she didn't have to restrain anymore.  
Hinata monitored the back of his head, which, thanks to how well she had studied it, she would be able to recognize anywhere. His strands had grown over the course of the summer but they didn't cover the red of his neck completely or could hide the droplets of sweat.

His shirt was wrinkled around his bag pack and sticked a little to his skin. The sight was soothing yet also made her nervous.  
She had never had that kind of sensation with anyone else before and it was like she explored a new territory of herself whenever she saw him. This feelings that kept her awake at night and made her giddy, had been her companion and her teacher on the past weeks of her young age.

Hinata was too deep in her thoughts to register the shifting of the bus, as it drove into a curve, right away. The back she was watching so diligently closed in and Naruto landed in her lap.

She recored a loud thud and his weight on her but the whole situation broke down her system. The raising of her arms was the only reaction she could show and when Naruto looked up at her, her mind went blank.  
He was so close that she could see each of the six scars on his cheeks and the blueness of his eyes in a way she hadn't before.

He jumped up and immediately apologized with both hands in the air.  
"I'm so sorry."

Hinata could hear the people around her giggling and sat up, trying to tame her flush.  
"I-it's okay." But he didn't really hear her words even when it had taken everything from her to utter them.

"It was an accident, believe me." Not for a second had she thought that he had deliberately fallen on her and didn't need him to beg for her forgiveness.

"I understand," she said but nevertheless her cheeks burned and she pressed her lips together in an attempt to regain her composure.

Naruto got off so fast at the next stop that her eyes barely managed to follow him. She froze at the busstop, peering at the corner he had vanished at.  
It was the first time she had started working, that she didn't want to go. The fact that Naruto would avoid her because of that incident made her unable to imagine enjoying her work.  
The gift that he worked right opposite of her, what she had been so thankful for earlier, had become a disadvantage.

She did her best to give the few customers her full attention and act as she always did. But her insides were experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and when she coincidently locked her eyes with Naruto on the other side of the street, she couldn't bow her head and smile, instead rushed back inside, not wanting to expose her sheepish face. The distance wasn't enough to hide that.

Indoors she did the most unnecessary tasks she could find. Adjusting the perfectly placed food that was on exhibition or refilling the box of tissues that didn't need to be refilled.

Anko usually only left her office when it got busier and Hinata's co-worker would only come to work in a few hours so she felt lonely in the quietness of the shop.

It was cold compared to outside as the air conditioner arranged it so that the sweets wouldn't suffer from the hotness of the summer.  
Hinata looked around, there was nothing left to do, except asking the two customers outside if they needed anything. She shoved a chair back to its table before tightening her apron and stepping outside.

It was uncertain if the sudden hotness of the air contributed in her shock of Naruto's appearance, regardless she eyed him as if there was no possible way that he was standing right in front of her.

"I-… He-…," he began and his stammering made her assume that he was as surprised by her presence as she had been by his. "I was told to bring this over for you and your boss to eat." Her gaze fell on Teuchi behind the counter of his restaurant, displaying that weird smile again that she didn't know what it meant.

"Oh." Hinata nearly forgot to respond. "Thank you." Somehow she felt disappointed that he had come over because his boss said so. She was probably expecting too much from this boy she didn't knew much about and he had absolutely no obligation to make her feel like she was more than a stranger to him. Because that was what she was and it made her mood reach a new low.

Silence spread between them and both didn't move an inch. Hinata knew that she didn't because she hoped to get more of this conversation than she had so far and she opened her mouth to ask him what his reason was.

"Is there something else you want to say?" He didn't reply for a while to her hopeful question and made her wonder if he had even heard what she said.

"No. Sorry. Nothing. See ya."

After his quick uttering he turned around, presenting her his back. But it didn't make her feel calm and giddy anymore. She wasn't satisfied with looking at his back. She rather wanted to see his front.  
He rubbed the nape of his neck as he departed and the girl disliked the sight of him leaving yet couldn't do anything to hold him back.

Sighingly her eyes met the two bowls with fuming _ramen_. The smell of the soup delighted her nose as the oil on the surface glistened in the sunshine. The different ingredients on the top were assembled so carefully that she inspected the dish on a table inside before getting two pairs of chopsticks.

Anko joined her, licking her lips when sitting down at one of the many free tables. The woman slid her bowl towards herself and started stirring her chopsticks in the broth. The amount of steam increased when she lifted the noodles now and then before she shoved a good portion into her mouth.

She resounded happily as soon as the food had touched her tongue.  
"Teuchi is a genius when it comes to _ramen_." Her words were more likely directed to herself, as if she needed a reminder of that fact.

Her boss' antics when she ate tasty food were always a reason for Hinata to giggle and today was no exception. She hadn't even touched her bowl yet but already knew that it was delicious.  
Still her mouth corners turned downwards when she saw Naruto on the other side. The street between them was free just as the view she had of him.

His head rested on the counter and she could barely see his face, just his blond shock. His hands rose to ruffle his already messy hair. The way his boss was patting his shoulder made Hinata ask if he was feeling unwell. Maybe it was the heat? Or he felt sick?

"You like him?" Anko was still munching but had her arm leaned on the back of her chair, looking in the same direction her employee was.

"Huh?" Quickly Hinata eyed her food, which had stayed untouched until she thrusted her cutlery inside.

"Come on. I may be sitting in my office all the time but the way you look at him makes it so obvious." She grinned, unaware of the bashfulness she evoked in Hinata.  
It took the woman some more seconds and several smacking of her lips to realize her employees feelings. One brow rose. The girl's chopsticks were moving aimlessly in her bowl, not trying to get a hold of any of the food inside.

"Just tell him," she stated in a sentimental voice. Her tone was so different from her usual brisk and tough manner, that Hinata had to face her to believe that her boss had expressed that phrase. "Instead of wondering and trembling it's much easier to tell the truth."

She let those words circling in her head and internalized its meaning.

* * *

"Miss, are you getting in?" The bus driver threw a skeptical look at Hinata, who was kept in her walking dream right in front of the bus' still open door.  
Questioning how the vehicle had arrived without her perception of it, she swiftly bowed in apology.

"I'm sorry." Her shoes resounded on the floor as she quickly got inside and walked down the aisle, getting judged by the others on her way.

As soon as she had found a good seat at a window and adjusted her bag on her lap, she travelled off with her thoughts again.  
She had come to the realization that anything she said to Naruto would be better than staying silent. The worst case scenario appeared more pleasant than the constant worries she experienced nearly every day. And she couldn't imagine that she had fallen for a guy that would reject her cruelly when she would confess the matters of her heart. With that never-ending smile and his comfortable aura it wasn't possible.

The same buildings and streets passed in front of her and Hinata found herself starting to daydream along the drive.  
Watching an old couple interacting on the other side of the street, Hinata had lost herself in her study of the world outside the window.

Her head bobbed forth and back again when the bus halted at the next station and the old man took the bags the old woman was carrying. Both had white hair that glowed in the sunshine and sunglasses protecting them from the brightness of the day. They exchanged words, which Hinata obviously couldn't hear and the woman patted her husband on the shoulder.

The couple continued their slow walk down the tree-lined road and Hinata averted her eyes from the window.  
She must had been very out of it if she had forgotten that this was the stop Naruto usually got inside the bus. But remembering that now had no purpose as he was already standing at the front and looking right at her.

The little moment between them felt like eternity but then, as if he moved in slow motion, he looked away and turned his back to her. And somehow that view, that she had once relished so much, made her chest tighten.

"Naruto." It was a call she hadn't tried to control because she no longer wanted to. Gazing at him wasn't enough anymore.

There were so many things she wanted to know about him. It were simple things like what his favorite color was or what he did in his free time. But also important things like the reason he smiled so brightly when she looked over from her side of the street or why he watched her on the bus on their way to work. And why they had never spoken with each other.

She wouldn't be able to learn these things if she stayed silent. She wanted him to sit next to him every time they rode the bus, she wanted to talk to him on their way to their workplace and rather than the back of his head, she wanted to see his face.

"You can sit here." Hinata tapped the seat to her right. The desire to make him sit there helped her in overcoming her shyness.

Her eyes traced him walking over to her side like he could disappear any moment she didn't. Waiting for him to finally sit down felt like torture but the graveness of the relief when he did made her feel like she had waited for this moment all her life.

"Thank you." His voice being so close to her made her ear tickle. It was husky and rough because he had whispered and the first time she had heard it from this proximity. It made her toes curl in her sandals.

Naruto's arm touched hers, electrifying her skin right at that spot and spreading its sensation through her whole body. She hoped that the touch would last as long as possible, desiring to lean against it if that was needed to not make it stop.

Hinata's habit of playing with her fingers appeared at the surface again. This time she knew it was there and it actually helped in sorting her thoughts.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" His question hit her like an arrow in the head. She hadn't even thought about the fact that she had called him by his name, because the only thing she wanted at that moment was his attention.

"Uh?" Telling him that she went over to ask his boss didn't seem like a good idea and the closeness of his face to hers didn't help in finding a convincing explanation. "I… I just do."

Hinata could feel the blood rushing through her head. He smiled and she felt like melting. Under his careful gaze, it seemed as if he inspected every inch of her face. She could swear that he closed in the distance a little bit further.

For the other passengers this moment was like any other but for her it felt like her surroundings were sparkling. The fragrance of the air was fresher, the noises felt like well composed music and her heart was warmer as if wrapped by a cozy blanket.

The rays lightened up his face and, together with his blond hair, made it appear like the gleaming sun was right by her side.

"What's your name?" he asked.

She smiled because that question made her happy. It meant that he wanted to know her better too.

"Hinata," she replied, while looking him in the eye.


End file.
